SWAMPSCOTT — Town Meeting members voted to amend zoning bylaws to allow construction of a 60-room hotel at the former Hadley School site during the second night of Annual Town Meeting at the High School auditorium Tuesday.
Members also voted to authorize the Select Board to extend use of the Hawthorne by the Sea property until the end of 2025, allow accessory dwelling units, and fund $5 million in capital improvement projects.
Articles 12 and 19 create an overlay district at the Hadley School site, allowing the town to zone and develop the site for the creation of a boutique hotel with two stories of accessory parking space.
Select Board Member Peter Spellios presented the bundled articles. He explained that the Hadley Elementary School Reuse Advisory Committee, formed in 2020 to help find a use for the former school, came back with three potential uses. Those were a mixed commercial and community center, an affordable housing complex, and a boutique hotel.
Spellios said that the mixed-use option would not be financially viable for the town to undertake, the affordable housing option could be made possible, but the hotel option would help preserve the historic school building and likely bring significant revenue.
“I can’t sit here today and tell you that this is going to be successful because the market is fickle,” Spellios said. “What we do know is that we have assembled the right team.”
The Town of Swampscott, Spellios said, plans to partner with real-estate investment firm Pinnacle Partners to find a developer and design the hotel. He added that the hotel will bring increased traffic to local businesses.
“These businesses need this help, and this is the best option moving forward,” Spellios said.
Affordable Housing Trust Chair Kimberly Martin-Epstein said the trust strongly urged Town Meeting members to vote against the hotel, arguing that the property would be best used for affordable senior housing. She said the Hadley Reuse Advisory Committee
“This hotel we see as the least feasible of the three options,” Martin-Epstein said. “The need for senior affordable housing is urgent and very much now — not down the road after we burn up valuable time and effort evaluating an option that is likely infeasible.”
Town Meeting member Gerry Perry spoke in favor of the hotel, adding that although he recognizes the need for affordable housing, he believes the hotel could bring significant revenue to the town through the Meals Tax and the 6 percent Hotel Tax.
“We have a housing crisis, we need affordable housing, but not every single project should be affordable housing,” Perry said. “From a financial perspective, I think it’s a really wise decision.”
After debate, Town Meeting voted to approve both articles.
Monday night’s session of Annual Town Meeting had concluded with a vote to adjourn after Finance Committee member Naomi Dreeben recommended favorable action on the Hawthorne extension.
When the town purchased the Hawthorne property in June last year, Town Meeting voted to allow temporary use of the property until December 2023. Dreeben said until the property is ready to be repurposed, the Finance Committee does not want the property to remain vacant.
“The finance committee feels that it would be appropriate to extend it another year until December 2025,” Dreeben said. “Sometimes buildings are empty, so we don’t use them and we’re not getting any benefit from them. We would like to avoid that.”
When Town Moderator Michael McClung reopened discussion Tuesday night, Town Meeting members voted unanimously to approve it.
Town Meeting members also voted unanimously in favor of Article 16, which approves the town to appropriate roughly $5.59 million to fund capital improvement.
Funded projects include the $1.2 million installation of speed bumps throughout town, a $750,000 water-main replacement, $400,000 for the renovation of the Swampscott High School auditorium, and other maintenance projects throughout the city.
Of the $5.59 million in capital improvements funding, roughly $4 million will be borrowed from the town’s general fund.
Planning Board Chair Angela Ippolito presented Article 17, which amends zoning bylaws to allow accessory dwelling units (ADUs). ADUs are secondary housing units under 900 square feet — such as sheds or attached garages — that can be used as additional housing. The article passed.
Under Article 17, Ippolito said, ADUs can be used by right as long as they are up-to-code and the owner occupies either the accessory unit or the main structure.
“It really gives people an opportunity to create an additional unit for either a child who is moving home and needs a place to live, or an elderly parent that can no longer stay in their own home, or to rent out as a, hopefully, more affordable unit,” Ippolito said.
School Committee member and Town Meeting Member John Giantis expressed concern that the allowance of ADUs would lead to short-term rental units in the future. He said he lives next to an Airbnb property and frequently deals with “problematic” short-term renters.
Planning Board member Michael Proscia reminded Giantis that although Article 17 did not explicitly mention short-term rental allowance, it does stipulate that one of the two homes must remain owner-occupied.
Annual Town Meeting will resume May 17 at 7 p.m. in the High School auditorium.
